DALLAS _ Dez Bryant's time with the Cowboys has come to an end.
The team announced Friday that it released Bryant after he met with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones at the Star in Frisco. The decision ends an eight-year association, one in which the receiver's career burned bright early but tailed off dramatically the last three seasons.
After the decision, Bryant tweeted to Cowboys fans that "I need you to know this wasn't my decision. I will always have love for y'all."
In a statement, Jones said: "This was not an easy decision. It was made based upon doing what we believe is in the best interest of the Dallas Cowboys. We arrived at this crossroad collectively with input from several voices within the organization. Ultimately we determined it was time to go in a new direction."
Bryant was on the books for $16.5 million this season with a base salary of $12.5 million.
Bryant will be treated as an immediate release, saving the club $8.5 million in salary cap space for the coming season. Designating Bryant as a June 1 cut would have carved out $12.5 million but the money wouldn't have been available until that date.
The Cowboys selected Bryant in the first round (No. 24 overall) of the 2010 draft. Two years later, he began to establish himself as one of the most dominant receivers in the NFL.
In a three-year span, from 2012-14, Bryant caught 273 passes for 3,935 yards and 41 touchdowns. In the final year of his rookie contract, the Pro Bowl receiver caught 88 passes for 1,320 yards and a career-high 16 touchdowns.
The club placed the franchise tag on Bryant in March of '15 to prevent from losing him to free agency. He took it as an insult. The receiver stopped working out around his teammates and stayed away until he signed a five-year, $70 million contract shortly before training camp began.
Bryant clearly wasn't in shape to start camp in Southern California that year. He broke a bone in his foot in the opener, missed the next five games and suffered through the worst season of his career.
Bryant missed a total of 10 games during the '15 and '16 seasons with a Jones fracture of the fifth metatarsal and a hairline fracture of the tibial plateau. He had fewer receptions, yards and touchdowns in those two seasons combined than he had in any of the previous three seasons.
This past season, Bryant caught 69 passes for 838 yards and six touchdowns and led the NFL in drops. He failed to have a 100-yard game and hasn't had a 1,000-yard season since signing the contract.
The Cowboys have been paying Bryant like an elite receiver but his production has been far from elite. This sparked Friday's summit meeting between the receiver and team owner Jerry Jones.
"As an organization we hold Dez Bryant in the highest regard, and we are grateful for his passion, spirit and contributions to this team for the past eight years," Jones said in his statement. "He will always be a valued member of our family."
Dez and I share a personal and professional relationship that is very strong, and he is one of just a handful of players with whom I have become that close to over the past 30 years.
During the NFL annual meetings in late March, Jones said he expected to two would have "a really straightforward, candid" conversation. The owner said he and Bryant share a mutual respect and have never had awkward moments between them even when dealing with awkward or harsh issues.
The Cowboys had more than $30 million devoted to the wide receiver position for the upcoming season with Bryant on the roster. Jones had said he could live with "that kind of allocation at receiver but we've got to have production." He then pointed out living at that number would leave the Cowboys short in other areas of need.
Bryant was 26 when he was last an All Pro. He'll be 30 by the end of the 2018 season. The Cowboys determined he was unlikely to return to his previous form.
The arrow, as Jones is fond of saying, was pointing down. Bryant's unwillingness to accept a pay cut that would reflect his recent production now means he's out.
Allen Hurns, a player the Cowboys signed in free agency, now becomes the team's lead receiver entering the season. His overall numbers are similar to Bryant's over the last three seasons with 138 receptions for 1,992 yards and 15 touchdowns.
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